The Lone Wolf Strikes (1940)

By CinemaSerf

When a lovestruck banker is rather gullibly conned out of a priceless string of pearls and then dies in a mysterious road accident, his partner "Stanley" (Addison Richards) comes to our renowned sleuth to ask him to investigate. He's reluctant but agrees and that's when he meets the interfering daughter "Delia" (Joan Perry) who rather spoiled this mystery for me. Anyway, Warren Williams ("Lanyard") reckons he knows how to track down the stones and hopefully thereafter get to the bottom of the death, so with the help of stalwart "Jamison" (Eric Blore) sets about solving the crime. The first twenty minutes or so are quite well paced as the story take shape, but the persistence of the annoying "Delia" means that the thriller has only one way to go and that was downhill. You just know that however skilful his machinations are, she's going to end up screwing it all up and being the hostage. There's quite a fun dynamic between the pursuing police officers, Williams does quite a passable impersonation of a thick-accented European dealer and the denouement is quite clever, too. Worth a watch but Perry ensures it's a little disappointing.